Ensure your recording meets Grammy eligibility requirements. Generally, the Grammys require nominated songs and albums to be released for general distribution in the United States between the beginning of October and the end of September of the year prior to the awards. General distribution includes sale by a label, an independent distributor, via the Internet or through mail order or retail sales.
Register, or have your distributor register, as a media company with the Recording Academy. You can do this directly through the Recording Academy's website, creating a user name and password and providing some basic information about your company. Registration is open only a few times a year, so check with the website for the exact dates. Alternatively, you can register to become a member of the Recording Academy through its website. To be eligible, you must have had credits on at least six tracks of a commercially released album or 12 digitally released tracks within the past five years. You will have to pay dues to become a member, too.
Await packets that will come by mail containing detailed instructions on how to submit your work. The forms will ask you to determine in which categories your work fits, and you'll submit them and your recordings -- either electronic or physical CDs -- directly to the academy. If you have an ally who is a voting member of the academy, they also can submit your recording for you.
Network with Recording Academy members to generate interest for your work and boost your chances of a nomination. Zak Morgan, an independent children's recording artist who was nominated for a Grammy in 2004, credits his nomination partially with handing out CDs to other academy members on a chapter's golf outing and asking friends who were members to share the CD with everyone they knew.